PM Prayut tells Superboard to create '2020 educational vision' master plan

[sawadee1947]

days ago a Thai told me it would have been better having been colonized........No comment, It says all.

[Squeegee]

[tomacht8]

To modernize the education system is indeed a difficult task, but necessary.

An important aspect, among many others, it is in my opinion to detect early the different talents of the children and then to promote them.
Be it music, sports, languages, science, etc.

Thailand needs in all major cities a kind of “elite schools” where only those are allowed to enter, who have the appropriate skills, will, IQ, EQ and bite.
For underprivileged children with above-average or exceptional skills, there must be a financial support program.
The real skills from pupils/students should determine the educational level.
It must be excluded that inappropriate students (from rich or well connected parents), with poor learning performance,

can buy in there and pull down the whole level or even buy exams and diplomas.

There must exist equal opportunity and performance must be worthwhile, then Thailand will be able to improve his level.

If they would bring together in each province the best teachers and the best students, that would be a step forward.

[Srikcir]

20/20 is perfect vision.

In the land of the blind, the man with perfect vision is an outcast. Better the blind lead the blind, there is more credibility.

[deckape]

The General and I read the same book, "The Smartest Kids in the World". Basically follows US foreign exchange students studying in Finland, South Korea, and Poland. Apparently Poland and Finland turned their education systems around in a very short time. The results are measured by the PISA test. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PISA_2012 (fairly respectable showing be LOS actually)

From my recollection, South Korean kids put in uncountable hours in school, tutoring, and homework. They actually have police who have to make midnight raids on study centers to make these kids sleep. Finland's teachers are very highly trained, and the students also highly self motivated.

Neither of these options will be palatable in Thailand. Critical thinking is not encouraged, in fact just the idea of grading students too harshly would not go over well because it might hurt their feelings.

This may sound harsh, but I have lived here for 15 years and know what this place is about. The world needs worker bees, and this is the place for them. There will be no appetite for foreign style reforms here, it is a complete waste of time.

Edited March 22, 2015 by deckape

[deckape]

I simply could not get past the headline: ... Superboard!

Next it will be, what... Super-Duper Board, and then Really-Super-Duper-Amazingly-Awesome Board?

Same untouched rice... different wrapper... but always a higher price with each grand "improvement".

No doubt. They should try baby steps, too. South Korea and Singapore lol. They should send the Superboard to Indo and Vietnam for Christ's sake.

Edited March 22, 2015 by deckape

[billphillips]

What is so special about 2020? Why wait so long, get started after this school break.

Ask any kid here a few simple questions that should have been covered in school and they will look dumbfounded. Try it yourself ... Pythagoras theorem, calculate the area of a circle, any world history event and the list is endless. I can't comment on Thai language itself (I'm still learning) but I can sure tell you that most kids in Udon Thani can't speak it or pronounce it well. The reason ... The teachers here teach in the Issan dialect ... Ridiculous !!!

[Commerce]

Schooling is the control device by promoting obedience and deference; thus, education does not take place in school, merely the dissemination of knowledge - not the same things by a mile.

Real education promotes insight and independent thinking which is anathema to most politicians, provided the the latter are able to think independently!

[trogers]

I have just found out a very serious stumbling block in the education of kids in the province.

A friend's nephew came to visit BKK during this school holidays. I noticed he does not have any books to read and brought him to the store to pick up something to his interest.

I then asked if his parents buy him books outside those of school's. No, his parents do not even though they would not miss betting on the 2-3 digit lottery.

When parents see education as only what school should provide and stop there, we can expect only half-baked educated kids with no love for knowledge.

[lemonjelly]

Any program implemented should include English classes, teaching Thai college students proper English, Then in time The Thai Government could cancel out all these British, Canadian, American Australian, New Zealand English teachers across the board. Opening up 20,000 plus foreign jobs to Thai english speaking graduates. It's long over due. This would drastically reduce the number of work permits required for foreigners. This would also reduce the workload of visa requests at all Immigration offices.

One of the more hilarious posts I've seen here for a while.

Edited March 22, 2015 by lemonjelly

[Thaddeus]

Any program implemented should include English classes, teaching Thai college students proper English, Then in time The Thai Government could cancel out all these British, Canadian, American Australian, New Zealand English teachers across the board. Opening up 20,000 plus foreign jobs to Thai english speaking graduates. It's long over due. This would drastically reduce the number of work permits required for foreigners. This would also reduce the workload of visa requests at all Immigration offices.

One of the more hilarious posts I've seen here for a while.

Proper English, Standard English, Correct English?

Discuss.

That'll keep the poorly educated non-native English speakers busy for a while!

[jcisco]

I'm shooting from the hip, but lets run with stripping back the subjects accross the board to Maths, Science(s), Native Language Studies, English, Social Sciences, Physical Education at the very most as the subjects being taught. Spell out the subject matter, implement a testing regime that is marked offsite or even outsourced, and not open to manipulation by the teachers. Pay teachers accordingly, monitor resource requirements, performance and go from there,

Or go to town restructuring the education department, or outsourcing it to someone like serco... they penny pinch hard and will surely be better than what they have, probably a different kind of bad though.